Smoke and Fire
by Jayniebear321
Summary: Natsu Dragneel is like wildfire. He burns into people's life, sets it aflame with adventure while helping them find their destiny and when the journey is over, he disappears like smoke leaving only memories and a life's mission complete. Such is the life of a destiny seeker, at least until he meets Lucy Heartfilia. For Day 4: Smoke of NaLu week on tumblr. Partial AU


**Author's Note: So this is for NaLu Week day 4 but since life is busy I wasn't able to post it in time, but I hope you guys like it anyway. As always, I do not own Fairy Tail and all credit goes to Hiro Mashima. Feel free to review and comment. If you have suggestions feel free to send them my way. Thanks for the read. Enjoy!**

They said he was like wild fire. That the moment he walked into your life, he set if aflame with adventure and light. People said he burned with such an intensity for life that you couldn't help but become caught in his flame. And just like a fire, he would leave and move on as he burned, leaving only the smoke of memories and a life forever changed.

Natsu Dragneel was a special type of person. He was granted immortality and give the duty of helping others to find their destinies. His father Igneel did the same work before him until he found his soulmate and began to age once again after many years of service. Growing up, Natsu loved his father's stories of adventure and hope. He longed to live the same sort of life. After every story Natsu would beg his father for the ability to become a destiny seeker too. Whenever Natsu would ask, Igneel would smile sadly and explain that the life of a destiny seeker was very lonely. You can live for thousands of years, helping others find their destiny, all the while you stay the same, never changing, never moving forward until you find your own destiny, which always involved finding the soul that you were meant to be with. That was the saving grace and made all the lonely years worth it. Many destiny seekers became bitter and cold after years of helping others and years alone, but some, like Igneel, were able to make it through the sad times without giving up hope and for them, helping others was worth it. As much as Igneel warned him of the risks, Natsu never gave up the dream of being a destiny seeker. Finally after years of begging, Igneel gave in and granted Natsu the gift of a destiny seeker. Soon after Igneel and his mate passed on the next world and Natsu began his journey as a seeker.

Throughout the years, Natsu led many people to their destinies. There was no arrow pointing the right way, or light, or guiding voice. Natsu would travel wherever his heart took him and along the way he would meet the people he was meant to help. See, fate has a funny way of making sure things work out the way they were supposed to, but sometimes it needed a little push to make sure all the pieces could fall into places and that is where Natsu came in. All he had to do was continue his adventure and fate would help the rest happen. For example, Natsu once met a young girl who had lost her family and her home in a tragedy. The only friend she had in this world was her pet cat. Natsu took her hand and led her to the family she dreamed of and needed. Another time, Natsu brought a woman with bright scarlet hair along with him as he traveled and accidentally led her to a childhood friend who believed he was unredeemable and underserving of love. The woman quickly taught him otherwise and they managed to find a happy life together. Natsu helped so many people by bringing them on his adventures and setting their lives aflame with hope and happiness. When the journey was over and the people he can come to love and care for found their destinies, he would leave, quietly and without notice. The people he left behind would notice too late and miss him terribly, but they were left with the warm coals that came with the memories and the light of a life fulfilled.

For Natsu, leaving was the hardest part, but he knew that it would only cause more pain if he stayed around much longer. He grew to love the people he helped, but it was far more painful to watch them age and move on without him. Igneel was right, it was a lonely life, but Natsu believed that what his life had in store was worth it and the memories made got him through the hardest of times. So life went on for hundreds of years, Natsu setting destinies into motion and when the flame of adventure died, he vanished like smoke. That was until on a certain fateful day, a young blond woman ran into his life, literally.

Natsu had just wandered into a small village and was exploring the shops when a person ran crashed into him and fell to the ground.

"Hey! What the hell was tha….woah." Natsu looked down to the person sitting at his feet. It was a young woman and she was crying. "What's wrong? You're not hurt are you?"

Natsu squatted down beside the woman to get a better look at her. The woman was staring back at him, tears shining in her brown eyes.

"There are men coming after me!" She cried. "Can you help me get to the train station?"

Natsu heard men yelling in the distance.

"Split up and find the girl. You've seen her picture, search the square. If you find her capture her!"

Rage filled Natsu. He didn't know why they were looking for the woman, but he knew that they meant her harm. He stood quickly and pulled her to her feet.

"Come with me." Natsu took her hand and led her through the crowded streets as quickly as possible. The men's shouts faded as they made their way closer to the train station.

The pair ran into the station and climbed into a train as it started pulling out of the station. They found the luggage car and hid behind the suitcases of the travelers who had tickets. Natsu looked out the window and saw the group of soldiers tearing apart the station that the train had left. They barely made it out, but barely didn't count so Natsu could breathe a sigh of relief. The girl, on the other hand, was clearly shaken up and looked like she was ready to start crying again.

"Hey, are you alright?" Natsu scooted closer to the girl, careful not to scare her. "My name is Natsu. Do you want to tell me why those people were after you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." The woman took a shaky breath and wiped her eyes. "I'm Lucy. It's kinda a long story on why those men were searching for me."

Natsu leaned back against a suitcase and smiled.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be here for a while, so I have the time. That is if, you want to talk about it."

Lucy hesitated, but when she was the genuine look on Natsu's face, she caved and started talking.

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia. My father is a wealthy business man who is trying to marry me off to extend his work." Lucy lowered her head into her hands. "The man he is giving me away to cares nothing for me and is cruel. I want nothing to do with him and my father won't listen. So I ran away."

Natsu reached out and gently went to pat her back, but Lucy saw the movement and flinched. He dropped his hand. _This girl had been treated terribly_ , Natsu thought sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear your troubles Lucy. Do you have any idea where you want to go?" Natsu asked.

"I have nowhere to go." Lucy let out a small sob. "My mother is gone and I have no one."

"You can have me." Natsu offered.

"That's very forward of you Natsu, considering we just met." Lucy pointed out with a grimace.

"That is not what I meant." Natsu quickly covered. "If you have nowhere to go then why don't you travel with me?"

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere the wind takes me," Natsu grinned. "So do you want to come with?"

Lucy pondered his words for a moment and smiled brightly. "Yes."

Not long after, Natsu and Lucy were discovered by the train conductors and kicked off the train at the next stop. Since Lucy left in a hurry and Natsu spent the last of his money on the train ticket that led him to Lucy, the pair began traveling by foot. Natsu and Lucy became fast friends as he told her of his adventures and she shared her stories as a budding author. Natsu was careful not to share let slip of his very long life, he didn't want to scare her away. There was something about Lucy that drew Natsu in and made him want to stay with her.

Natsu and Lucy traveled far from her home town and only slowed when they reached a distance where Lucy was comfortable. Slowly Lucy began to unfold the rest of the story of her life. Lucy's mother died when she was very young and afterwards, her father became very cold and wrapped up in his business. He was very hard on Lucy and had the tendency to lash out his anger and frustrations at her verbally. Her father only began to show interest in her life when she came to the age of marriage. At that point he began to look for suitors for his daughters hand and the man he picked was the worst of them all. He was cruel and abusive. Lucy appealed to her father many times that she did not love the man he chose, but he insisted that she would learn to love him. It only took one time for him to hit her for Lucy to make her decision. She would leave home and never return. When Lucy's father discovered her absence he sent a military force after her to capture her and bring her home. They would have succeeded if she had not found Natsu when she did.

After learning her past, Natsu silently vowed not to leave Lucy's side until he led her to her destiny and knew she would be safe, even if it took years.

And the years did fly by. The two traveled together and met many people on their journey. Eventually Lucy found out that her father had given up looking for her and was sorry for what he had done. With the arrival of that news Lucy and Natsu decided to settle down, Lucy with plans to write and Natsu with plans to protect her and provide for her. Even though Lucy was now safe, he couldn't bring himself to leave her. Natsu had fallen in love with her. He was in too deep and even if it hurt him, Natsu had decided to spend the rest of her life together if she would have him. And she did. Life continued on, Lucy became a renowned author and Natsu worked as a smith, working with fire as his heart always had. Together they had a child who grew up with tales of adventure, romance, destiny, and hope. Hope that in the end people would find their destiny and be happy. As time went on, Natsu explained the truth of his adventures to Lucy and how they took many, many years, more than the life of a normal human. He also explained that he would most likely out live her and their children, but that he would never leave them, even when they had to leave him. When Natsu told Lucy this, she laughed.

"I don't know about that Natsu, you'd be surprised what time can do to a body." She would tease him, rub his pink hair, and kiss him on the cheek. "And I know you won't leave us. We're a family."

Natsu never understood why she laughed when he told her the truth, but as long as she was happy, he could survive. Natsu never felt like he aged a day, though sometimes he felt the ach of a long day, which he never felt before he met Lucy.

Natsu's son grew up and Lucy's hair began to gray. When their son was old enough, Natsu finally explained his past as a destiny seeker. He told them in the same way as Igneel once told him. The child understood the path that a seeker had to take. The boy still had the drive to help others, but the thought of a long life didn't appeal to him as it once did to Natsu. Instead the boy chose the life of a healer and Natsu couldn't have been prouder.

Lucy aged with beauty and grace as their child grew into adulthood. Natsu felt the prick of sadness in watching Lucy age without him, but he did his best to concentrate on the good and devoted his free time to helping his son achieve his dream of becoming a healer.

On the day of his son wedding, Lucy helped Natsu dress in his suit. It was tighter than it had been once before. Lucy tied his bowtie with a smile and stepped back. She was smiling gently.

"You are just as handsome as the day we met." She said happily. "Do you remember?"

"How could I forget?" Natsu teased. "You nearly plowed me over you weirdo."

"I did not. You were standing in my way. I can't help that." She stuck her tongue out.

"Yeah, yeah." Natsu pulled her close to him. He stroked her face.

"Where did all that time go?" He asked softly.

"It flew by didn't it?" Lucy whispered into his chest. "Look at us. We show the time don't we?"

Natsu turned and looked in the mirror with her.

Lucy's hair had all but completely grayed, her cheeks drooped slightly from age and her eyes had smile lines, but had the same sparkle as they always had.

And Natsu, his hair had streaks of gray mixed with the pink spikes. His eyes too had smile lines and his forehead wrinkled a bit. His face was weathered, but still retained the look of youth that all happy people retained. Natsu's jaw dropped.

"When did this happen?" Natsu asked in disbelief.

"Always." Lucy laughed at his surprise. "Haven't you looked in the mirror lately?"

"Apparently not close enough." He muttered stroking his face.

"Come on weirdo. We don't want to be late for our son's wedding." Lucy smiled taking Natsu's hand and leading him from the room.

"You're right." Natsu smiled.

Natsu looked back at the mirror and grinned. He had completed his mission and everything would be ok. He no longer had to burn like a wild fire, he could now enjoy the embers of old age with the family he loved. And when he turned to smoke, he would move on with his love, into the glow of the afterlife.

 **Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed it. I'm a big cheese ball, so deal with it. Please review and comment with what you thought. Thanks for reading**


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